João Costa João Costa divides his professional activity into four main areas: 1) professional cellist, 2) teacher, 3) artistic director of a music school, and 4) researcher. Having initial training in Cello performance, he develop a career as a professional cellist playing in professional orchestras, chamber ensembles and pop musicians, and recorded several works with of the most known Portuguese groups and interpreters. As a teacher, besides cello classes, he also taught music theory, acoustics and music history in several music schools. One area in which his pedagogical activity is more relevant, and connected with his Ph.D. research work, is in the field of students' ensemble music, being responsible for conducting several students’ orchestras in several music schools, having conducted also a semiprofessional orchestra in international music festivals and several cities in Portugal and abroad. As project manager and artistic director he is responsible for the creation and development of innumerable artistic, pedagogical and community projects in several institutions. He was a Project Manager with Institutions in Casa da Musica’s Directorate of Education and Investigation from February to December 2005. In the scope of his responsibilities, he was in charge of the creation and/or implementation of projects like Hyperscore (Project of Music Composition for children developed by the MIT - EUA); Pre-Concert talks with composers; workshops; Pedagogical Concerts; Concerts for Babies; Summer camps; Training Courses for Music Leaders; among others. As Pedagogical Director and Artistic Director of Escola de Música de Perosinho, he was responsible for the creation and implementation of more than one hundred projects (artistic, pedagogical, social, community, investigation, training, etc.), including projects involving many different community institutions and with very diverse populations. Some of the more relevant work in this field are international projects like ERASMUS + Ka1 Project Per Formar (2016-2018) – A project for individual training of music teachers; ERASMUS + Ka2 Project Touching Hearts for Environmental International Awareness (2014-2016) – Multilateral Partnership between schools from Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Czech Republic, and Slovakia; COMENIUS Project Water my flower (2011-2013) – Multilateral Partnership between schools from Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Poland and Romenia and Língua Mãe – a musical and social project created by the Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the city of Brasilia, involving 120 children from Portugal, Angola, and Brazil in a choir accompanied by Cláudio Santoro Symphony Orchestra in a concert in Brasilia National Theatre in 2010. João Costa has a Master's Degree in Educational Sciences from Porto’s University Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and a Ph.D. in Artistic Education from Porto’s University Faculty of Fine Arts. His investigation interests relate to how musical experiences can become relevant and meaningful for music students. Other activities associated with his academic training as a collaborative researcher in i2ads (Research Institute in Art, Design and Society) of Porto’s University Faculty of Fine Arts, include several participations in national and international research encounters and conferences such as: . ECER 2015 Budapest - European Conference on Educational Research – paper with the title “Breaking Barriers. Learning in Unfamiliar Territory” . ECER 2016 Dublin - European Conference on Educational Research – paper with the title “Meaning Making in Music Education – Addressing Alternative Approaches to Teaching and Learning” . 1st Congress of the Specialized Artistic Teaching – Lisboa, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – with the title “Abordagens alternativas à procura de sentido nas aprendizagens musicais. Novo paradigma do papel do professor no Ensino Vocacional de Música?” (“Alternative approaches searching for meaning in the musical learning. New paradigm of the teachers’ role in music teaching system?”) Also relevant is his participation, as a researcher, in the project “Public Policies in Arts Education in Portugal”, which consisted of a study on the curricular implementation of arts education at primary school. Being a credited trainer by the Scientific-Pedagogical Council of Continuous Training, since 2021 João Costa also engaged in the development of training courses for music teachers and school managers. Since 2021 collaborates as an expert evaluator for the Portuguese Erasmus+ Agency, and in 2023 initiated a collaboration, in the same role, with the European Commission in the scope Horizon Europe Programme.